Friday, December 21, 2012

This is my first try on making this exotic and delicious chicken. Since I am a vegetarian I cannot tell you how it tasted but, after seeing a huge reaction (WOW!) and a big smile on my hubby's face I can tell you it should have tasted heavenly, he finished it in a single take!!!

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Christmas is the big festival here in America, every street and every home here is wonderfully decorated already. Its a holiday season too!! we find kids every where. Some like playing with snow and some love helping their mom in baking. You might have started baking for your loved one too, so dear friends please share your wonderful recipes and help others to find them easy and quickly at one place. This event starts today and continues till Jan 18th. you are free to add as many recipes as you wish, the recipes can be from your archives. Here is the procedure about how to link your recipes:

Please link this event announcement with your entry, this is mandatory.

Use of logo is mandatory, it helps to spread the word.

Multiple entries are allowed, archived are only allowed if reported and updated with this event link.

Monday, December 17, 2012

There are very few recipes that taste good and do good, vegetable burger is one among them. I always love making veggie burger patties before and refrigerate them, because they make my work simple for the next day lunch box. Yellow peas are readily available in marked in tins, but I prefer soaking the dry peas myself and preparing them for making patties. This is the first time I tried to make a burger with yellow peas, always I used to make with chick peas. Believe me they tasted wonderful.

Friday, December 14, 2012

Holidays are around the corner, colorful lamps and beautiful embellished Christmas trees started reappearing in the corners of every hall way. It is time to have fun and celebrate holidays with all our friends and relatives. I know many of your houses are filled with aroma of butter because you should have started baking cakes and cookies for your loved one. I also knew that many of you might start looking for the best recipes on the Internet, I wish good luck to all of you on your cookies and happy surfing!

Vegetable Kofta is one of the most elegant and delicious curry. I prepared this curry in many different kinds, every time it tasted heavenly. This time I was having a capsicum sitting in my refrigerator from many days, so I thought I would use it to make some rich curry with a twist; and here is the twist I made some vegetable koftas and added to the capsicum gravy. Believe me it made me spellbound, when I first tasted it. My hubby just loved and showered a ton of compliments which is very rare event in my home. Now its your turn to try it and dunk your self in the shower of compliments.

Mix all the above ingredients and prepare a small lemon size balls. Deep fry them under medium flame till they turn golden brown. DO NOT dump all your koftas at once, sometimes they spread out. Check with one kofta first, if it is intact then add another batch. If your koftas are not intact then you may have to add some more gram flour.

Method:
First grind coconut and pea nuts in to a fine paste by adding water.
Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and red chili. When they start spluttering add onion and capsicum and saute till they turn golden brown. Now add ginger garlic paste and turmeric. When the raw flavor of ginger starts disappearing add tomato, coconut and pea nut paste and mix well. When all this masala is well cooked, add red chili powder, garam masala powder, kasuri methi powder and salt to taste and mix well. Finally add vegetable koftas and garnish with cilantro and serve hot. You need not have to cook koftas in the gravy, just mix them with the gravy. Hope you like my recipe and please do not forget to comment before you leave. Thank you for visiting my blog and keep visiting for more wonderful recipes to come.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Sauteed and salted chili are my all time favorite with samosa; I do have them as a side dish with rice, especially with curd rice. My grand mother used to have raw chili's with curd rice, I tried it too, but it didn't work that great because, I started to see tears in my eyes, you could imagine how spicy it would be. But do not worry, here is the simple recipe with less spice.

Ingredients:

Long Red chili (I used Finger chili)- 5

Lemon juice 1tbsp

salt to taste

oil 4tbsp

Method:

Heat oil in a pan. Slit chili along length wise on one side, remove seed if you wish, add very little amount of salt in the slit. Add them to the hot oil and saute them till they turn medium brown. Remove them from the pan and sprinkle some lime juice on top of it. There you go, spicy and tangy chili are ready to serve. Hope you enjoy my recipe, please do not forget to comment on the post and keep visiting!!!! :)

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Tandoori chicken is always my hubby's favorite snack. I prepare this for every special event in my house. This time I want to try something different but I do not want to disappoint him, by not making tandoori chicken. So, I tried keeping the tandoori taste same but wrapped it in a puff pastry and he liked it very much. It not only tasted wonderful but also looked like something that a professional chef presents. He was so surprised to learn that I made it. My love and bond for cooking is very strong, and getting very intense that it is making me very professional everyday. If I were allowed to do something other than studies, then I would immediately take spoon in one hand to cook and camera in one hand to capture frame to frame of my recipes and share with you all. My passion for cooking and photography is that zealous.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Semiya Payasam (Kheer), was all time favorite for me to cook, because it is simple and delicious. I prepare this yummy payasam for my hubby, he is not-so-sweet tooth but loves this payasam. Dry fruits are very healthy as they provide instant energy along with good fats and proteins. So, I always try to combine dry fruits with almost all the sweet dishes I prepare. We all know that eating sweets is unhealthy, so I substitute 1/4th of the payasam with all the dry fruits that I have and make it little healthy.

I always keep dry fruits handy, you can find them in the candy section of every grocery store. This pack shown below was bought from Sam's club. It costs about $7.00, and it was enough for 6months at least for both of us. It got raisins, almonds, cashew nuts, dry mango, dry banana, dry coconut strips, dry pine apple (one of my favourite) and many more fruits. The only thing that biased me with this pack is that, each fruit is coated with sugar, next time I'll make sure that I'll buy non-sugar coated dry fruits.

Heat ghee in a thick bottom pan under medium flame. Add dry fruits and semiya and roast it till the semiya turns light brown. Add 1/2cup water and 3cups milk. Adding water first will protect the milk from sticking to the pan. Now, cook this mixture till it comes to a boil and add sugar and mix well. when the sugar is completely dissolved add cardamom powder and turn off the stove. Let it remain for about 5min on the heat from the turn off stove. If you like your payasam thick then add leas milk or substitute 3 cups of milk with 1cup condensed milk + 2cups of regular milk. Serve hot and enjoy with your family.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Last week we had a small potluck party. I was very excited, like everyone does to impress them. The time was short and I did a lot of browsing to search for any Indian potluck recipe. But, I could not find many and the one that I found were taking pretty long time to cook. So, I stopped browsing and looked around my kitchen to find what all I have. If you are preparing for a potluck you have to make in a large portions (of course, our potluck gathering was very small, but what if it was bigger?) just look around your kitchen and find the one that is in larger quantity and you many not use it again (Such as instant cake flour), and try to prepare from that. If you are a person like me who prefer to make desserts only on special occasions then I bet you should have lots and lots of instant mixes like gulab jamun and cake mix in your store room. Just move their butts out and start making them.

Now here are the tips that you can make the simple food look delicious. Always, garnish food with colorful decorations. These decorations make food even more appitizing. If you are going to bake the food, always prepare them before the party day, refrigerate them and try to bake them before the party begins. If you were to take them to different place then, bake on the day before you leave.

Here are the recipes that you can prepare for the potluck or Big party.

Monday, October 29, 2012

Here is the wonderful guest post by Sandeep Arora. Sandeep Arora is a senior chef who has been working as the Chief Chef in the top hotels of India for twelve years now. He has written many articles on restaurant mumbai. In this article he is providing us with some valuable information on healthy desserts.

Many times we resist ourselves from desserts because of health reasons. But here is some good news for all sweet toothed people out there. It has been proved that desserts can play a role in improving your heart health. A few simple changes in the way we live and choosing the healthy options to eat can work wonder for your cardiovascular health and help you get rid of issues like heart attack and such others. A healthy diet for healthy heart does not mean depriving yourself from tasty dishes and following only boring and bland diet. There are plenty of lip-smacking dishes that are equally healthy and one of such healthy options is dessert.

A favourite of all dessert lovers, dark chocolate has lots of health benefits; it is loaded with antioxidants, reduces stickiness of blood, helps reducing blood pressure and enhances blood flow. All these aid to improve the cardiovascular health to a great extent. Dark chocolate that comes from plants is a rich source of antioxidants. The cacao beans from which the original dark chocolate is made is loaded with antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.

The people who are suffering from high blood pressure can find it great as it helps in relaxing the arteries and make it widen so that the blood pressure is lowered. It also helps to prevent plaque from getting built up and thus reduces the risk of heart attack. But before including chocolates in your daily regime make sure that it is only dark chocolate as most of the milk chocolates lack in high concentration of healthy compounds. As the healing benefits lie in the cacao bean, choose only those chocolates that come with high percentage of cocoa. To get the greatest health benefits check out the contents of the chocolate and be sure that it contains high percentage of cocoa and is low in fat and sugar. Above all, it is important to keep in mind that every good thing should be taken in moderate amount as too much of anything can be bad. So take consideration of calories and fat and reap the health benefits with dark chocolate.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Last week we had a fall break, followed by an exam. I know no one likes to enjoy a break if they were going to have a mid term exam after it. So, I and my friends Amelia and Emma gathered at Amelia's home to study. That was my first visit to Amelia's home (In fact, to a typical American home). Their house was decorated wonderfully, I just loved the Chinese arts and shell collections at her home. The house was located in a peaceful environment and all those bird sounds and beautiful fall colors attracted me a lot, apart from it she prepared a wonderful lunch. I tasted very delicious vegetarian Empanada's (Especially for me) for the first time. She also made some Chicken cheese Emapanada's too. This is not the sole effort of Amelia, her hubby also helped her in preparing these delicious Empanadas.
Here is the recipe that I jot down from her.

Ingredients
For Empanada Dough:

4 cups all purpose flour (Maida)

1-2 teaspoons salt

2-3 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons butter, melted

2 egg yolks3/4 - 1 cup water

Method:

Sift the flour into a bowl. Stir in the salt and the sugar.

Blend the butter and egg yolks with 3/4 cups water.

Stir in the 1/2 cup of water/egg mixture, a little at a time with flour, until the dough starts to come together smoothly. Keep kneading the dough, adding more water/egg a little bit at a time as necessary, until the dough is smooth.

The dough will seem a bit shaggy until it has thoroughly chilled.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour. (you can also store it overnight (or a couple of days) in the refrigerator).

Dough should be soft and smooth.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface, and roll into desired thickness.

Heat pan on a medium-high heat, melt butter and cook onion until transparent.

Add vegetable broth and chopped corn. Turn down to medium heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes to soften corn.

Add flour and allow mixture to thicken.

Add cream, mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.

Add fresh thyme, black pepper and salt. Mix well and keep it aside.

Take the rolled dough and place the cooled corn filling on one side of the dough and close it, seal the edges by pressing with a fork.

Top with egg wash and bake it at 450F for 20min or till the crust turn brown (check in between)

For Chicken cheese Empanadas substitute Corn with oven roasted chicken and vegetable broth with chicken broth. Me and Emma enjoyed this delicious Empanada's and now it's your turn. I also thank Amelia and her husband for sharing the wonderful recipe with us.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Tofu looks just like paneer (Indian cottage cheese) and it is tasteless. That means we can induce flavors by cooking it with the spices we like. Tofu is made from soy beans (mostly), it can serve as agreat source of protein, iron, calcium for the vegans and vegetarians like me. 100gm of tofu contain 8gm of protein, 350mg of calcium (35% daily value), iron 5.4mg (42% daily value) and it counts for 76Kcal. One cup of paneer made with cow milk contains 265 calories and 21 g of fat.. The same amount of paneer made using buffalo milk contains 292 calories and 23 g of fat.

Where to find tofu?

Walmart: you can find near the fresh greens (Produce section).

Kroger: you can find in the frozen section.

Publix: You can find it near greens and mushroons (Produce section).

I always love eating healthy and tasty food. This recipe satisfies my taste buds and it is healthy too. A duel combo.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Spinach is one of my hubby's favorite veggie. Spinach is also one wonderful nutritious veggie which can be used with any combo. Here, I used soy beans and yellow peas along with spinach. This turned wonderful and delicious. I am also posting the nutritional content for soy, yellow peas and spinach. This curry can be had with rice/roti.

Method:
Soak Soybeans and yellow peas together for 6hrs and pressure cook them for 2 whistles. Drain water and keep aside. Do not throw the drained water.

Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds and mustard seeds when they splatter add red chili and saute. Add onion, turmeric,green chili, curry leaf and cook till it is tender, meanwhile grind garlic, ginger and green chili together and add this mixture to onion. Close the pan with the lid, cook till the oil leaves the curry from sides. The add spinach and cook till it is well done. Mash cooked soy beans and yellow peas coarsely and add it to the spinach, also add 1/2 cup water (that is drained from beans) and mix well.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Can you identify the picture below? is it Noodles or Spaghetti. I know, it is difficult to find unless you have tasted it. Noodles and Spaghetti both look alike but they have a big difference form the way of cooking, serving and eating.

The main ingredient of spaghetti is wheat flour, but noodles can contain different types of ingredients such as rice starch, rice flour, potato starch etc., A good quality of spaghetti is prepared of durum wheat. Noodles originated from China, where as spaghetti from Italy. The way of boiling of noodles to different from spaghetti. Noodles are boiled in hot water with out any addition of flavor, where as spaghetti is boiled in a salted and herb flavored (optional) hot water with few drops of olive oil.

Noodles are served after stir frying them along with the ingredients where as spaghetti is served with sauce on topping. Generally, spaghetti is had with fork and Noodles with a chopstick.

Now, enough of the story about their difference and jumping to the recipe.As mentioned above the cooking of noodles and spaghetti is very different But, I treat them the same and some times cook spaghetti like noodles and noodles like spaghetti. I do not mind changing the recipes because all that matters is about satisfying our taste buds. Here, I made a fried egg spaghetti with spaghetti sauce.IngredientsSpaghetti-1/2 box (100gr)onion finely chopped-3tbspgreen chili finely chopped-1/4tbspolive oil-1tbspsalt to tastepepper powder to tastespaghetti sauce-2tbspginger garlic paste-1/2tbspegg-1Method:

Take a deep bottom medium size pan and and fill it with 3/4 volume of water.

Bring water to boil and add 1/4tbsp salt, 2drops of olive oil and pinch of oregano/thyme (optional).

Add spaghetti, and cook till it is done (Make sure you are not over cooking it.

Take another thick bottom deep pan and add 1tbsp of olive oil and heat it.

Drain water from spaghetti and add to the pan, mix well till all the ingredients are uniformly mixed.

Check for salt and pepper and add if required.

Now in the same pan move the noodles to one side and create an empty space, break open egg and add it on the other side of the noodles.

Cook till it obtains a omelet kind of texture, now scramble it and mix with the spaghetti.

Serve hot, Hope you like my recipe and keep visiting for more wonderful recipes. You can also make Noodles in the similar style. I used tomato, mushroom raghu sauce, you can use any kind of sauce or only tomato puree instead of sauce.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

I know this Kolhapuri recipe is no where linked with Ganesh festival, but today I feel like sharing my way of celebrating Ganesh Chaturdi with my family as the festival is approaching near by. I was born in Ganesh Navaratri's and co-incidentally my favorite God is also Ganesha. I like all his stories and qualities, his love towards parents, siddhi and buddhi. I am from Hyderabad, the metropolitan multicultural and multilingual city. Here, every festival is celebrated with wonderful colors, and lights. At every main street, you can see vendors selling Ganesha's statues and Pathri (Leafs and flowers offerd to God). Kids of our colony used to collect the funds to put their own "Bala Ganesha", where as older people used to keep the bigger Ganesha "Siddi Vinayaka" decorated with lights and flowers. There used to be heavy devotional music, poojas and very important part prasad (Food offerings to God) all day.

On first day of Ganesha festival, me and my father used to go bare foot (of course on a vehicle) to bring Ganesha Idol and Patri. I used to love the small umbrellas, for Lord Ganesha very much. Later we come home, and decorate house with flowers and "Mamidi Thoranam" a special garland made with Mango leaves and tied to every door in house and gate. Later we used to decorate pooja mandhir with Ganesha statue and all patri and flowers. My mom who is a wonderful cook, used to make many dishes along with a special dish "undralla Payasam" which is a must food for this festival. Now, here I did not mention about my bro, you might be wondering what he is doing, he is asleep now. As soon as we start our prayer he wakes up, takes bath and come to pooja room at aarthi time and eat all prepared food (Very smart, right!!! :)). I love my bro, even now he is the same. I know after reading all this story you relate the same beautiful things happening at your home too. I miss my parents and bro a lot. I hope that Lord Ganesha Blessings stay on my family and your family life long.

Now coming to the recipe, I make this Kolhapuri vegetable curry when I have all the chunks of left over vegetables in my home. This is one of my favorite too!

Method:
Fry all vegetables separately in some oil till semi cooked and keep aside. Now take a thick bottom pan and add 2tbsp of oil and heat. Add clove, cardamom, cinnamon and bay leaf and saute for 30sec. Remember always the pan should be on a medium heat. Add onion paste & ginger garlic paste and wait till it turns golden brown, stir in between. Now, add all the spice powders coriander. cumin, garam masala, chili powder and salt mix well and immediately add tomato puree and mix well. When the tomato puree is cooked add yogurt and stir. When all the raw flavor of yogurt is gone, toss in all the vegetables and curry leaf. Stir well and add water if the gravy is too thick. Close the pan with lid and cook in simmer for 5min, finally check for taste and garnish with cilantro.

Yummy Kolhapuri vegetable curry is ready to serve. Serve with some masala green pea rice which is awesome combination for this recipe/

Monday, September 10, 2012

It's been almost a month now, I have no blog post yet. I do not blame me for this delay, I balme my college (Like in telugu Movie Bomarillu Dialoge "Antha college ee chesindi!!" ;)haha! ). Finally my Fall Semester started and I am having classes every day for this sem. As ususal assignments started from Day 1. Taking a little time to post this yummy recipe.

For me bread always used to be an excuse when I was young, I used to think that bread and apple is only for those who fell sick. As we grow up our choice and taste will change along with time. Now, bread is must in my weekly grocery list. It is like an all purpose food. We can make filling and appetizing snacks, breakfast n many more with in no time. If you have any extra bread in your home and it is soon going to expire and you do not know what to do, then here is the excellent recipe for you, that is instant and super delicious.

Ingredients:
Bread-10 slices for 10 Bondas(I used whole wheat bread)
Oil for deep fry
12cup water in a flat plateFor stuffing:
Potato 2 large boiled
Green chili paste 3/4 tbsp
1/2 Onion finely grind
Coriander powder 1/2tbsp
Cumin powder 1/4 tbsp
Turmeric pinch( optional)
Salt to taste
Cilantro/ coriander chopped 2 tbspMethod:For stuffing:
Grate the potato with a large pore grater. You can mash it as well but while mashing we get some clumps. Grating will yield more smooth stuffing. Now heat 2 tbsp of oil in a skillet and add grinded onion, ginger garlic paste and keep sauteing till the raw flavor of onion goes away. Then add turmeric, cumin powder, salt and coriander powder and mix well. While all the ingredients are finely done, add potato and cilantro and turn off the stove.
For Bondas:
Take the bread slice and tear the edges off. Heat oil for deep fry under medium flame. Wet it in a water for a fraction of a second and immediately press it between your palms to squeeze excess water. The bread should not be too dry or moist. Take 1 tbsp full of potato filling and put it at the center of the bread and bring all the edges of the bread to top of it and close it. smoothen it whith your palms. Fry these dumplings under meduim heat untill brown. Serve hot with green chutney or just sprinkle chat masala on top and serve.
These Bonds are vey crips and you can add lemon juice to the potato stuffing before filling them to bread, this imparts a tangy flavour to the recipe. Hope you like it.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

I just happened to see this recipe on some TV show one day and made it yesterday. It was really awesome and I am happy to share with you all, you will definitely love it.

Ingredients
Spaghetti: 1/2 packet
Water as required
salt to taste
milk-1 cup
wheat flour/ all purpose flour/ maida-1tbsp
pepper powder to taste
oregano or your favorite herbs-1/2tbsp
olive oil-1tbsp
garlic crushed-1/2tbsp
cheese of your choice- I used American cheese and suggest you to use shredded cheddar cheese.
If you wish to add veggies you can add them boiled
1tbsp of butter/olive oil
Method
Fill the pot with 3/4th water and bring it to boil. Add 1/2tbsp salt and spaghetti. While the spaghetti cooks we will prepare sauce. it should cook in just 10min. Then you drain 1/2 of water and keep it aside with remaining water left in it so that spaghetti may not stick to each other. But, while serving remove entire water.

For sauce:
Add 1tbsp of butter/olive oil in a medium heat pan and add 1tbsp of maida/wheat flour. Fry till it turns slight brown. Add 1 cup of milk and and keep stirring on a medium flame. Soon the mixture turns to a thick paste and to that paste add herbs, salt and pepper. Mix well and turn off the stove.

Seasoning Spaghetti

Heat 1/2tbsp of oil in a pan and add garlic and vegetables if you wish and mix well. Finally add spaghetti when the raw flavor of garlic disappears.

Serving:

Now take a serving bowl and add spaghetti. Spread white sauce on top of it and sprinkle come cheese. yummy and delicious white sauce spaghetti is ready. I suggest you to add mushrooms to this recipe, it gives an amazing taste to this recipe.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Bakharwadi is one of the famous north Indian recipe. If you are among the people who love to eat sweet, hot and sourness together then this serves as a wonderful dish for you. It is a vacation time and I know lot of you will be planning for long trips and you want to make snacks that you can store for a while. Bakharwadi can be stored for a week or more, I feel it is a great picnic snack, every one can enjoy the wonderful spicy Indian flavors. We are planning for a 4 day trip shortly and I made these yummy bakharwadi's. They are simple to make, and one more thing is that you can surprise the guests/family members with this delicious treat if they are having for the first time. Most of the south Indians do not know about this recipe, so if you are a south Indian you can surprise your family with a variety twist like this. Kids will love the yummy fennel seed and sugar flavor in this recipe. I made them for the first time and got lots of compliments, you may better start trying now.

Ingredients:
Wheat flour (generally Maida/all purpose flour is used)- 1 cup
Oil for deep fry
Salt to taste
Caramel seeds/vama-1/2 tap
For filling
Fennel seed-1tbsp
Sesame seed/till/nuvvulu-1tbsp
Coriander powder-1/2 tbsp
Cumin powder-1/4tbsp
Sugar-1tbsp
Salt to taste
Lemon juice 2 tbsp
Method:
For dough:
In a bowl take wheat flour and add salt and caramel seeds and mix well. Then add 2 tbsp of oil and mix we'll. Add water and knead like a chapati dough. Add another tbsp of oil on top of the dough and polish the surface. Put a lid on it and let it rest for 10-15min. Meanwhile add all the filling dry ingredients mentioned above to the hot pan and fry them at low flame for 5 min. Turn off the flame and grind it to a coarse powder by adding 2 tbsp lemon juice and keep aside.

Take the dough and divide it in to 6 equal portions. Make each of the divided part to round shape and with the help of rolling stick roll them like flat chapatis. Add 1 tbsp of filling and spread it on entire rolled dough.

Roll it inwards and cut them to 1/2 inch pieces each. Repeat this process. Now net oil in a pan at medium flame and fry these prepared bakharwadis till golden brown and take them on to paper towel to drain excess oil and store them in the air tight container for long run. Hope you like them. Please leave your comments and suggestions.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Dhokla is one of the dish I always wanted to try, this time I bought some ready made dokla flour form the "Patel brothers" one of the Indian grocery store in our near by area. The ingredients on the pack say that it contains besin (Gram flour) and rice flour. I was little confused, about the kind of ingredients that goes into the recipe. Later I did a little research and came up with my own recipe. It worked, dokla came out wonderfully. I never tasted dokla before, but now after making this yummy and healthy Indian flour cakes, I regret for not tasting them before. Form now dokla always stays in the weekly snack menu of our home.

I feel so dumb sometimes, because I bought dokla flour but forgot the fact that I do not have dokla plates. If your case is same like me, give me "high-5"!! No problem you can use the idli plates instead. Problem solved! Now coming to the recipe.

PROCEDURE-
Take curd/yogurt in a bowl, beat well, then mix dhokla flour, turmeric, salt, chopped green chillies, lemon juice and chilli powder and make a semi thick batter with water. Keep aside for 20 minutes,add more water if it became thick.

Grease the plates with oil , add 1/2 t.s eno to the mixture and mix well and pour in to the greased plates and steam them. I used Microwave Idli maker for this process, I kept on high for 7min. Later when the dhoklas are ready wait for 5 minutes and let them set. When the dhoklas are all set remove them from the plates and cut into square or diamond shape pieces.

For seasoning:
Heat 3 tbls of oil in a small pan,add 1 t.s mustard seeds,pinch of asafoetida,,when done ,add 2 tbls of water in it and then garnish this mixture on the top of the dhokls along with coriander/cilantro and fresh coconut

Monday, July 16, 2012

Hello Friends, back with a cool summer Holiday Parfait!
This summer the temperatures are hitting the top records and creating history. During this hot summer cravings for cool eats increases. I always feel like having an Ice cream, but if you are also a calorie bug like me your foot is always a way back. This parfait is for those calorie bugs, It tastes wonderful and fulfills your quench for an Ice cream. It is also the best way to make the kids to eat fruit and yogurt.

I never used to be a big fan of yogurt before, but after tasting the Dannon's 0% Fat vanilla yogurt I cannot resist my self form having it. According to the nutritional information on the box, it says that 8oz of yogurt contatins only 110calories. What do we need more than this, I decided to take 4oz of yogurt everyday afternoon with different organic berries. Today it is the turn of the strawberries and I feel this is the wonderful combination that I ever had with yogurt. Making of this parfait is very simple, that is the reason why it is called as "Holiday parfait". You can make this on a lazy day, it fills your tummy and makes it cool in this hot summer. There is no seperate recipe for this yummy parfait you can include whatever you like to have with yogurt in this recipe.

Ingredients: (For 8oz)
Low fat light vanilla yogurt- 8oz (app 220grms)
Berries- 10(I used strawberries, you can use any one type of berrie or use mixed berries)
(In off season: You can find the mixed frozen berries in the frozen section in all grocery stores)
Nuts and rasins of your taste- I used shreaded Almonds and cranberry raisins
Chocolate powder- pinch or to your taste(optional)

If you are not using the vanilla flavored yogurt, you can always use sugar or sugar substitutes as the toppings as the natural yogurt do not contain sugar. Honey serves as a best substitute of sugar.

Directions:
Take a medium size bowl and add 4oz (app 110grms) of yogurt and spread as a bed. Wash and dry berries and cut them in to four large pieces and spread them as a layer on the top of yogurt. Add remaining yogurt on top of strawberrys and sprinkle chocolate powder on top of it or grate a chocolate bar. Finally garnish with shreaded almonds. Refrigerate for 15min or more and serve. You can store this preparation for 3 days minimum.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Its been almost a month hello foodies, I'm back from a long break!! I told u already about my short trip to India!! In this trip I have learned many recipes from my mom!! But before going to the recipes topic let me tell U about my trip!!

My biggest satisfaction is that I saw my parents n bro in real(Yup!! its true every time I see them on skype I feel like touching them to feel their presence)!! I was always holding my mothers hand saying that I will not be able to touch you when I go back again, let me feel your presence. Most sad moment was then when my parents busted in tears when I was about to leave. I can't stop tears in my eyes even now while I am writing this, I can still remember their sad faces.

I was alone, because it was only me who visited India, my hubby was stuck with some work so he could not accompany me for this trip. It is really difficult for me alone to get into the flight, my steps towards the counter made me to feel like I am stepping into a deep dark hole right infront of me. Every step was painful. But I am taking all the memories of joy and happiness with me, where I spend with my parents.

I would have enjoyed my trip more if the climate was good, as the hot summer was flooding in!!! My sincere suggestion is never visit India during the month of May where the Sun leaves the sky and romes with u on Earth!! But the good news is I have successfully compleated my thesis defence in India which I left back in India because of my marriage.

Anyways I had a good trip because I enjoyed my mothers food everyday. My mom used to feed me like she used to do when I was a kid. I really enjoy the extra care after marriage, I know my bro is little jealous of the extra care towards me but who cares (hehehe!!!). I successfully compleated my thesis and done with my defense. So, friends I am graduated now with M.Tech degree!!!!(Cheers!!!). Finally I accomplised my goal and all this is because of my father and bro, because they are the one who supported me till the end!!!! Love you mom, dad and bro...MISS U A LOT!!!

Now, coming to the recipe. This curry was prepared by my mom for me :D

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Any curry with chicken drumsticks (I'll call them, Kodi Kallu- Murgi legs just for fun! ) are my hubby's favorite. Chicken is a good source of protein, we can make it even more healthy by trimming fat and skin from the meat we cook. One day while watching TED videos (For them who do not know about these videos, they are like the research or survey presentations done by the individual people. The bottom line is, it is a platform where the people present their inventions and discoveries) one Indian teenage girl found out that chicken marinated with lemon juice at least for one hour reduced the amount of carcinogens(Cancer causing agents) in it. So, friends let us marinate the chicken and have it.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

For me eating raw vegtables and leaves seemed weird before. This is because I am born and brought up in India where the people cook the food with all those delicious spices and eat. I love my food cooked and flavored, but now after tasting many different kinds of salads which are healthy too, I find myself enjoying these kind of foods either. Especially, Iceburg Lettuce it is wonderful leafy vegetable that you can enjoy every bite of it with any combination you wish, some people like eating it with salads and some like me love eating with fried rice. Now coming to the recipe.

Method:
Heat oil in a pan and add bay leaf, beans, celery, onions and green chili. Saute until the raw flavor goes away. Then add coriander powder, soy sauce, salt and pepper powder. Give a quick saute until the all vegetables are well cooked under medium flame. Now add rice, mint leaves and cilantro and mix well. Cook for about 2min under medium flame and squeeze some lemon juice at the end. Let it cool down a little bit because the lettuce leaf is very tender it may loose its crispness when you add hot rice to it.

To seperate leaves from lettuce, hit the stem portion to the cutting board twice then it will become loose and you can pull out the stem easily. Now you are left with leaves and you can easily seperate them. Take water in a bowl and add 1/2tbsp of salt and wash the lettuce leaves in it, keep it aside and let it dry. When the leaves are dry, put some rice in the leaf and fold it, place the folded portion down and serve with your favorite sauce on top. You can enjoy the same with egg fried rice, chicken fried rice etc., it tastes wonderful!!!

Hope you like my recipe, please feel free to post your comments. They are very valuable for me, you can even subscribe by e-mail to my blog, the recipes will reach your inbox. ThanX for visiting my space. Please bookmark it to visit/ remember again.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Besin/ Senaga Pappu/ Gram flour is one wonderful powder that adds magic taste to few recipes, besin bhendi is one of them. Everyone like their bhendi/Bendakaya fry crispy and no sticky, that is possible only when we deep fry the vegetable which is unhealthy. Addition of besin to the already cooked bhendi fry makes the curry non greasy by absorbing all the moisture in the fry. Bhendi is my dad's favorite vegetable, now after tasting this curry my hubby became a huge fan of bhendi. Now coming to the recipe.

Directions
Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, when they start splattering add cumin seeds and urad dal. When the urad dal turns brown add onion and fry till they are transparent. Add turmeric and ginger garlic paste and cook till raw smell disappears. Add bhendi and cook till they are tender you can cook even by closing the pan with a lid or in an open pan. Cooking in a closed pan makes it to cook faster, but once the bhendi is cooked you will have to remove the lid and cook. Add Cumin powder, coriander powder, red chili powder, salt and amchur powder and mix well. Finally add 3 tbsp of besin flour and mix well. Cook in the while lid open under medium flame till the fry turns crispy. Finally add oil roasted ground nuts and mix well. Turn off the stove garnish with cilantro if you like and serve with rice. This goes awesome with tomato rasam and white rice.
Hope you like my recipe, please leave your valuable comments!!!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Spagetti is favorite for everyone especially kids, love to scoop these soft noodles into their mouth. If kids say I am not hungry just make this yummy spagetti and put them on the table, they will run and come to you and finsh the bowl in no time. Spagettin is one wonderful food, that we can make many variations with. I love the way my mother makes, she grinds the tomato, green chili together and adds to the fried noodles by seasoning with salt and pepper. I used to have it very often. The taste of noodles/spagetti changes a lot by the addition of tomato juice, this inspired me to make spagetti with salsa. Now, coming to the recipe